PBPC Announcements

PBPC Family, This last Sunday was our final service in the Cruciformity sermon series. Thank you to all those who shared stories of the cross they are carrying - I was deeply blessed to hear people reflect on the cross in their daily lives. As we get ever closer to the celebration of Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday, we will not leave the cross behind for the empty tomb on Resurrection Sunday. The crucifixion and resurrection are not polar opposites between which we journey back and forth; they are two sides of the same coin. Without the resurrection, the cross is a tragedy and our faith is without hope. Without the cross, the resurrection becomes mere triumphalism, giving us a faith that has nothing to say to our suffering and pain. We are crucifixion and resurrection people. Though we conclude our series on Cruciformity, it does not mean we will stop talking about the cross. We will not continue to consider the ways Jesus invites us to carry our cross. I hope we can continue to ...

PBPC Family, Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Contemporary celebrations are filled with shamrocks, pints of Guinness, sneaky leprechauns, and lots of green. Our kids love making leprechaun traps, only to find that the leprechauns outsmarted them and committed mischievous acts in the dead of night. All of these are fun ways to commemorate Irish culture, but I think it's important we remember the namesake for this holiday; Saint Patrick himself. Many myths and legends surround Saint Patrick's life but here are the generally agreed-upon facts. He lived sometime in the middle of the 5th century. Around age 16, he was kidnapped from his home in Britain and taken into slavery in Ireland where he worked as a shepherd. In his 6 years of slavery, he spent much time in prayer and grew significantly in his faith. He escaped slavery by hearing a voice telling him a ship was ready to take him home. In Britain, Patrick studied Christianity, was ordained as a priest, and later became a bishop. ...

PBPC Family, I wanted to provide a little more context on the two services we are hosting at PBPC this week - the Friends Listening Service and Dwell, Remember, Replenish. On Wednesday at 7:00pm, we will host a worship service in the style of a traditional Friend (or Quaker) service. In a Friends worship gathering, all are invited to seek God's Spirit, commune with God in the stillness of their own hearts, and only speak a word if prompted by God's spirit. Some services are filled with prayers, Scripture readings, and words of encouragement; others can be a time of complete silence. Either way, we know everything that happens was led by God and the promptings of God's Spirit.  On Saturday at 7:00pm, we will host an informal gathering, Dwell, Remember, Replenish. This "holy experiment" arose from conversations with a friend. She shared that she was well aware of all that Christians needed to do in the world - there is much need and much that God is inviting us into...

PBPC Family, A few prayer requests I wanted to highlight this morning from some of our mission partners. Please pray for Grace Al Zoughbi's and Ashraf Jaraysa's families in Bethlehem. Pray for their safety and security in the war between US, Israel, and Iran and the possibility of a wider conflict. Pray for Addis who is in town through March 10. He will be meeting with an Assemblies of God committee to move forward in becoming ordained with the Assemblies of God, US. He is currently ordained with Assemblies of God Ethiopia and ordination with the US denomination will allow him to become an official AoG missionary. This will open up avenues for further financial support and relationships. Pray God's blessing over those meetings. Let us continue to pray for our world, for those directly impacted by the war, for leaders of countries who carry great responsibility with the decisions they make, and for the Church to witness to the saving and reconciling love of Christ. Looking f...